Leadership in innovation projects: an illustration of the reflective practitioner and the relation to organizational learning

Abstract

The purpose of this conceptual article is to demonstrate that Donald Schön's Reflective Practitioner actually outlines an explicit model of the steps that project leaders in practice apply largely unaware. This reflective research model furthermore can be meaningfully combined with Argyris and Schön's model of organizational learning. The combined research and learning model can support project team members and leaders to enhance their reflectiveness and improve their project success. Eighteen project leaders of innovation teams were studied by means of in-depth interviews aimed at assessing how project leaders act when dealing with critical incidents during their projects. Based on a selection of three project leaders, an empirical illustration of Schön's model is provided: they recognized there was a problem, researched the problem, developed alternative solutions, tested different solutions and alternatives on validity, tried out and experimented with solutions, selected and applied a particular solution, and evaluated the process completed. The authors' suggestion for practitioners is applying the combined model of the reflective practitioner and organizational learning, as this can help innovation leadership in practice at both the individual and the team level. The scientific value of this contribution lies in the conversion of Schön's latent (tacit) model into a manifest (explicit) model, and by relating it to the model of organizational learning, a result emerges that is both applicable to future research and practice.

Activating inclusive growth in railway SMEs by workplace innovation

“…From this research, we conclude as well that certain organizational aspects of WI as defined by innovation behavior are important for successful implementation of innovation. Employee engagement is an essential driver of WI ( Oeij et al, 2017 ). At the organizational level, the results revealed that organizational factors have different impacts on innovation climate.…”

“…This means that the management should engage, stimulate and support the team apart from just suggesting ideas. Then, employees will have the opportunity to suggest in what way the ideas could be developed based on their expertise and point of view ( Oeij et al, 2017 ) ( Totterdill and Exton, 2017 ). The challenge now is to bridge the gap between employees and management for WI.…”

“…Workplace Innovation (WI) is a relatively new concept ( Commission, 2014 ), being a combination of structural and cultural practices that enable employees to participate in organizational change and renewal. Hence, improving the quality of working life and organizational performance ( Oeij et al, 2017 ).…”

Innovation adoption of employees in the logistics sector in the Netherlands: The role of workplace innovation

“…We believe the approaches of Leadership (Yukl, 2012;Oeij, Gaspersz, Van Vuuren & Dhondt 2017) and Workplace innovation (De Sitter, den Hertog & Dankbaar 1997;Pot, Rus & Oeij, 2017) may help to understand the relationship between employee and organisational factors, and innovation adoption. Workplace innovation focuses on organisation of work as a form of innovation and employee participation, with the objective of improving both quality of work and organisational performance (Pot, Rus & Oeij 2017).…”

Sharing Student Learning from Individual Internship Experiences

“…(Raelin, 2007) Oeij et al argue that "Donald Schon's reflective practitioner actually outlines an explicit model of the steps that project leaders in practice apply largely unaware" and illustrates with examples of leadership in innovation projects. (Oeij et al, 2017).…”